Google Glass to 'rehumanise' doctor-patient relationship

New York, April 26: A San Francisco-based startup has raised $17 million to “rehumanise the interaction” between doctors and patients by using the Google Glass eye-wearable device.

Using Google Glass, Augmedix has developed a platform for doctors to collect, update and recall patient and other medical data in real time, technology website TechCrunch reported on Tuesday.

Google Glass is no longer available for consumers but its enterprise business continues to rise especially in the health care sector.

“When you are with doctors without Glass, they are charting and clicking on computers for a lot of the time and not focusing on their patients,” Ian Shakil, CEO of Augmedix was quoted as saying.

“When you put on Google Glass to collect and reference that information, it helps you engage with the patient better,” he added.

According to Shakil, the Augmedix plaform “takes care of documentation in the background faster than you would. It humanises the process.”

The software relies on a team to help enter info and update records in the back end.

“It’s almost more powered by humans than AI (artificial intelligence) and speech recognition today,” Shakil noted, adding that they will be deploying more natural language processing in the future.

Taking the benefits of the virtual reality (VR) technology in healthcare sector to a new level, doctors at Royal London Hospital recently livestreamed in 360 degrees an operation conducted upon a 70-year colon cancer patient using the VR technology.

Carried out by the leading cancer surgeon Dr. Shafi Ahmed, the entire procedure was watched live by medical students from the hospital and Queen Mary University Hospital though Google Cardboard VR headsets and smartphones, London-based newspaper Evening Standard reported.

People also watched the livestreaming by downloading an app on their smartphones. The operation was filmed on two 360 degrees cameras with multiple lenses.

In 2014, Dr Ahmed performed the world’s first live-stream of an operation using Google Glass which was watched live by nearly 13,000 students around the world.

A few enhancements and a piece of software can also make the eye-wearable device ready to help people with autism - a developmental disability known to cause communication and behavioural challenges.

A software has been designed to help those with autism make eye contact, engage in conversations and more easily read social situations, said a report on wbir.com.

"It coaches eye contact directly, rewarding points to the child or adult with autism. Then, when they look at someone in the eye, their little computer screen shows the emotions the other person is feeling," said Ned Sahin, CEO and founder of Brain Power.

The Brain Power system adds enhancements to the Google Glass or other wearable technology and then a suite of software.

"A mom can speak to her child through the device and actually see what he is seeing. We activate the camera so it becomes a remote version of her eyes," Sahin was quoted as saying.

The glasses can help make someone relax by playing soft music and even has a solution to the fear of "wandering".

Clinical trials for the new technology will begin this fall at Harvard Medical School.